Prospect Talent Score

Probability of Success

History

2009-10: Tyler Vesel skated for the U16 team at the Shattuck St. Mary’s school in Faribault, Minnesota. In 52 games he scored 16 goals with 15 assists and 2 penalty minutes. Vesel was selected to participate in the USA Hockey Select 16 Player Development camp in June.

2010-11: Vesel was the second-leading scorer for the U16 team at Shattuck-St. Mary’s behind Taylor Cammarata (NYI) in his second season at the school. In 54 games he scored 37 goals with 71 assists and 10 penalty minutes. Shattuck-St. Mary’s reached the USA Hockey U16 National tournament championship game — falling to Michigan-based Honeybaked 3-2 to finish second. Vesel was selected by Omaha in the fourth round (56th overall) of the 2011 USHL Entry Draft.

2011-12: Vesel moved up to the Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep school team in his third season in Faribault and was the team’s third-leading scorer. In 57 games he scored 29 goals with 45 assists and 4 penalty minutes. The Sabres captured the 2012 USA Hockey Tier 1 national championship — defeating the Los Angeles Junior Kings 2-1 in the title game — and finished with a record of 50-5-2.

2012-13: Vesel led the Shattuck-St. Mary’s prep team in scoring in his senior season. He scored 32 goals with 45 assists and 16 penalty minutes in 55 games. The Sabres again reached the USA Hockey Tier 1 national tournament — falling to Neponsett Valley from Massachusetts 5-1 in the semifinals.

2013-14: Vesel joined the Omaha Lancers for his first USHL season and in December committed to playing college hockey at Nebraska-Omaha in 2014-15. Vesel was the second-leading scorer for the Lancers behind fellow Duluth native Jake Randolph; scoring a team-leading 33 goals with 38 assists despite missing 11 games. In 49 regular season games he had a league-leading +40 plus/minus with 22 penalty minutes. Omaha was second in the Western Conference and lost to third-place Sioux City in a first round playoff series. Vesel scored 3 goals with 1 assist and was +4 in the four-game series. Not among the 210 North American skaters in the Central Scouting final rankings, he was selected by Edmonton in the sixth round (153rd overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft in his third year of eligibility.

2014-15: Vesel skated in all 39 games for the University of Nebraska-Omaha and was the team’s fourth-leading scorer as a freshman. A steady two-way force for the Mavericks, he scored 8 goals with 15 assists and was +9 with 2 penalty minutes. Nebraska-Omaha finished third in the NCHC, receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Midwest Regional after being swept by St. Cloud State in the NCHC quarterfinals. The Mavericks defeated Harvard (4-1) and RIT (4-0) to win the Midwest Regional before falling 4-1 to eventual national champion Providence in the Frozen Four semifinals.

Talent Analysis

Vesel was drafted as a 20-year-old following a big offensive season in the USHL. Despite being slightly undersized he is willing to compete in tight spaces and should continue to develop during his college career. A product of the Shattuck-St. Mary's prep school program in Minnesota, he has been well-schooled in training and putting in the hours necessary to succeed in hockey. His biggest challenge will be adapting to the speed and strength of players as he moves up in levels.

Future

Vesel is in his sophomore season at Nebraska-Omaha in 2015-16. The second line center for the Mavericks behind leading-scorer Jake Guentzel, he has played a responsible game in both ends of the ice and is among the team leader in assists. Likely to use all of his NCAA eligibility before turning professional, Vesel is slightly undersized for an NHL center but his two-way awareness and playmaking ability suggests he can be an effective lower line forward.

Photo: Edmonton Oilers prospect William Lagesson is a Frölunda product and UMass freshman who has shown intriguing amounts of offense in his young career (courtesy of Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The Edmonton Oilers’ NCAA and European prospect pool is not a large one, made even smaller by Finnish goaltender Eetu Laurikainen joining the Bakersfield Condors in 2015-16 and Bogdan Yakimov making his return to North American hockey after a brief hiatus in Europe. The team also added former Minnesota Wild prospect Jere Sallinen out of the Finnish Liiga to its pro ranks. The remaining crop of players consists of mid- to late-round picks, many of whom are longshots for NHL success. Nevertheless, there are some intriguing standouts, such as in the case of Russian defender Ziyat Paygin who has pleasantly surprised many with his 2015-16 season numbers. Tyler Vesel continues to lead the way as the de facto leader of the NCAA prospect group. See the full breakdown below.

Photo: Edmonton Oilers prospect Anton Slepyshev brought high-level puck skill to the Oilers’ bottom-six forwards but did not generate much in the way of offense (courtesy of Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

After years of disappointing finishes for the Edmonton Oilers, fans can find solace in the fact that the team has amassed a solid pool of prospects throughout their rebuilding years, most specifically over the last season as Peter Chiarelli took the reins as President of Hockey Operations and General Manager. Notably, Edmonton’s depth lies on defense, with the likes of Griffin Reinhart and DarnellNurse (recent prospect graduate Oscar Klefbom continues to find success at the NHL level as well). Read more»

Photo: Management overhaul has changed things in Edmonton but Tyler Pitlick, the 31st overall pick of the 2010 draft, has the skill to take advantage of his opportunities this season (courtesy of Rich Lam/Getty Images)

As the 2015-16 season commences, one cannot help but notice the top-heaviness of the Edmonton Oilers’ prospect talent at the professional level. The team’s new farm club in Bakersfield, California is stacked with noteworthy names like Darnell Nurse, Leon Draisaitl, Tyler Pitlick and more, and the number of legitimate prospects fighting for an opportunity to earn a look at the NHL level is much higher than it has been in recent memory. The fact that the Oilers are now deep enough at the top level to afford to let prospects like the ones mentioned earlier spend some time in the minors developing is a sign of systemic improvement, which bodes well for a club that is trying to establish itself as a legitimate playoff contender after years of poor performance.

Photo: Edmonton Oilers prospect Tyler Vesel was one of several freshmen for Nebraska-Omaha that helped the team to its first-ever Frozen Four appearance (courtesy of Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

The Edmonton Oilers currently have an interesting mix of collegiate and European prospects in their development pipeline, ranging from college superstars like defenseman Joey LaLeggia to a pair of fringe players across the pond that appear to be one foot out of the door in Antti Tyrvainen and Daniil Zharkov. Other prospects of note include John McCarron, who is wrapping up his four years at Cornell University, as well as Tyler Vesel, who made a splash in his freshman season with University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Photo: Providence College forward Nick Saracino fires home an empty net goal in his team’s 4-1 win over the University of Nebraska-Omaha at the 2015 Frozen Four. Saracino’s goal was his third point of the game (courtesy of Michael Tureski/Icon Sportswire)

On paper, the 2015 Frozen Four semi-final matchup of Providence College and the University of Nebraska-Omaha looked like a potentially tight NCAA contest. And it was close on the scoreboard heading into the third period, with the Friars up 2-0 on the Mavericks. Read more»